You can't spell fundamentalist without mental, are the devout just really paranoid?

i realize the term 'fundie' is generally ociated with christians, however there are people that act like that regardless of their religion. i'm just wondering if these people are so entrenched in fear, that they'd rather come off as proselytizing, institution escapees, than risk what *might* happen. to err is human, right? you never know, you might come back and do it all over if you didn't get it right this time.